Does having an Apple Watch really make it more dangerous on the road?

I've recently read an article on Cult Of Mac, on a study that was conducted by SmartWitness that drivers reading a text message on smartwatches take more than half a second longer to respond to an emergency than someone reading on a smart-watch.

A new study by the Transport Research Laboratory in Wokingham, UK, found that using your Apple Watch while driving is significantly more distracting that your iPhone 6.

I found the findings to be quite strange and probably dubious. Far be it for me to question qualitative research without data of my own to back me up, but looking at logic alone, I think we need to stop and think before we all go running to our lawmakers to put a new law banning smart-watches in the car, let's take a look and examine a few facts.

Apple Watch doesn't have a keyboard, so talk to it

The limitations of the watch in a way is a blessing. Not having a keyboard on the watch means you can use Siri to converse with others, or even better, use the Apple Watch (or even car bluetooth) to phone the user, once you've glanced at a notification and decided that it's important enough to communicate whilst driving. That to me seems like a far more safer option.

Proximity of Watch Compared to Phone Or Car Display

Wearing the Watch allows you to put both hands on the steering wheel, and tilting your wrist whilst holding the wheel for a glance at a notification would seem to be a lot safer than diverting your eyes off the road to look down at your iPhone 6 sitting in the cradle, or in-car LCD displaying your message. If you have to drive-and-text, at least the watch would allow you to see more clearly with less distractions than driving and texting with one hand (not that you should do either). You aren't going to read a 3-page email on a watch, driving or not.

I would find having a smart-watch, which is an extension of your phone, rather than a replacement, would make driving more safer, if anything, rather than using a cell-phone. Contextual information, improved dictation-communication and having the device on your wrist whilst holding the wheel in my opinion would reduce accidents and force drivers to even put their phones in their pockets rather than having them on the cradle, meaning they have less distractions.

Do you think smart watches would make driving more dangerous on the road?